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Kayaking bait out from the beach for shark, I have noticed that if the conditions are not perfect my bait tends to drift with an 8oz weight on a fish finder rig. Can anyone share some ideas for heavier weights to keep the bait in one area? I have heard that some people in Fla. use bricks tied to the hook with 20lb test.

Any feedback/pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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I take a 8-10" piece of 3/4" copper pipe, cut up a coathanger. bend two pieces so that they stick out of one end points out (you'll bend them up to be an anchor) Fill it with melted down tire leads. On the other end use another piece of coathanger and bend it with the ends in, this will make the eye. then, just use a regular fish finder slide on your heavy rub leader and you are set. This weight will hold until you fight a shark, most of the time while fighting the plastic or the swivel will give and the weight will come off before you get it in, so plan on losing it if you catch a shark, but in my opinion its worth it.

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This section is about making your own Surf Spider Weights at home. I have found that this method is the easiest way to make weights using the least amount of tools. The reason I started making these weights initially was to keep me busy during the off season but I later realized that it was economical to make them my self. The individual cost per weight is around $.85 not including the cost of lead but I will give you a tip on getting lead for almost free.

Caution: Be sure to inform yourself about the hazards of working with lead. Make sure that you are melting the lead outdoors in well ventilated areas to blow the fumes away.

Start by cutting a 1/2 inch copper pipe 3 1/2 inches in length. Pipe cutters like the one shown here work perfect for this type of application.

For the weight Eyelet and legs I use 8 or 10 guage copper wire. The 8 guage is thicker and has better holding power. Cut the wire into 2 1/2 inch sections for the eyelets and start to bend them with pliers or whatever you want, I used a drill bit.

Then place the eyelet on a vise to mold it into a nice round shape.

Now lets move on into the weight legs. Cut the wire into 12 inch sections then bend them in half. Then place them in the vise to get the final shape but be sure to keep a 1/8 of an inch gap between the wire as shown on the picture below.

The next step is making the most important tool which is the end cap.

I recommend that you make 2 or 3 of them while you are at it so that you will be set for a long time. Get a sharp pointy object or a punch and make 4 indentions so that the drill bit has a guide and create the hole where you want it. Once you have punched it start with a small drill bit and work your way up to the drill bit size that is the next smallest size of the wire's diameter. Since copper is a soft metal you can work the hole a little with a nail until you obtain a good tight fit for the wire.

When you start to drill the holes it is better to place the end cap over the pipe section so that it doen't lose it's shape while in the vise.

By now your inventory should look like this and ready to to put it together.

Now run your wire sections through the end cap like the picture above. Notice how the 1/8 inch gap between the wire allows the wire to slide easily. Once you have done that leave about a 1/2 inch of wire sticking out of the end cap so that it will anchor better in the lead.

Slip the coppper pipe into the end cap making sure that is goes in all the way and sitting flush before placing it on the vise.

Turn on the torch and start melting the lead as shown above. It is easier to melt the lead in pan if you have the means of heating it in the outdoors and then just pour the liquid lead into to the weight. When you use the procedure shown here with the torch be sure to stop melting lead when the weight is half full and heat the base as shown below.

While heating the base stand back because as you are melting some of the lead that cooled off before it reached the bottom may splash as it liquifies and settles.

Leave about 3/16 of an inch unfilled and place the eyelet in the lead and hold it for about 30 seconds which is enough time for the lead to harden and hold the eyelet in place.

Apply more heat if needed to align eyelet correctly. After the eyelet is held in place grab the weight with some pliers and dip it in water to cool.

Proceed by placing the weight in the vise to remove the end cap.

Open the vise up enough to allow the weight shaft to slide up and down but closed enough to stop the end cap from passing through.

Remove the end cap completely and notice how uniform and clean the end cap leaves the weight. If you would have drilled a hole a little to big there would be a little lead run off on the legs.

You can experiment a little by trying different lengths and diameters of pipe to give the desired weight. You can also vary the shape of the wire to increase holding strength.

For those of you who use stealth traces, applying liquid electrical tape on the weight compliments it very well.

A good source for lead is a wheel alignment shop. Most shops have buckets and buckets full of used wheel weights which make an excellent source for lead. It just requires you to melt it ahead of time into the desired shape and you are ready to go. I have found that the place I use for my wheel alignment gives them to me but I usually give them something in return in good faith.

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I found some information on sand bag weights on another site that was very interesting...

Hi its douglas Mizzi from land based shark fishing australia. This is a problem that we dealt with over the years. We have made up grappling hooks, weights, you name it we have done it. The best and most succesful to date is the sand bag. Heres how it works. Get a sand bag, or make one up, another good idea are those recyclable material bags that all the supermarkets are getting you to change in the event of reducing plastic bag pollution. Anyway fill the bag with sand and eithere secure it with may loops of 80# line or zip tie it up. Now you have a weight. Choose one line class less then you are fishing, ie 80# use 50#, 130# use 80# etc. make the line about 3 feet in length and tie a knot in the middle of the line about a foot and a half up. Now tie one end to the bag use some granny knots or a heap of half hitches, and tie the other line to the bottom hook, thats the one furthest away from the trace. When you deliver the bait to the water place the bait in the water then first then place the bag in the water and let it go in one smooth motion.

Now the bait will stay where its meant to, the only time the bait will move is when there is a shark bite. By tying the line to the bottom of the hook the shark will bite the line off, giving no resistance to the bait allowing a clean pick up. Having grappling weights can and often will impede a sensitive hook up. By using one weight catagory less than your main line, and tying a knot in the middle of the securing line, a quick and swift run up the jetty or beach will break off the bag in the water allowing an easy retrieval unlike a fixed weight or grappling hook.

Years of trialing this in Australia has seen this to be without doubt the most effective weight system to use. The advantage is that you can carry many bags flat packed filling up what you need on the beach.

OMG I cant believe Im doing this... first of all doug and chris, yall are outstanding fishermen!

Ok, Personally, I use either a graple or sand bag depending on my hook choice. I rig them both as doug explains, tied to the bottom hook(got it from his site last year).

Graples... I use a good graple with 'J' hooks and set a heavy trap (rigged like Doug but same idea as Deavers mouse trap), maybe even 12#-15# with 50class. A sandbag will sometimes (often) drag with a heavy trap like that. The original reason I did this was thinking too much and trying for the quick solid hook set to prevent a shark from being gut/throat hooked (catch and release) and it seems now the reality is I like it because I dont get as many teeth marks in my bait without at least knowing about it. I even loop the mono weight trace over both hooks when using a double stingray rig. It works well most of the time, not perfect and of course I loose my graple ($) when a shark hits.

Sand Bags... I use them with a very light trap when Im fishing circle hooks, rigged just as Doug explains with little or "no resistance to the bait allowing a clean pickup" as I believe Circle hooks need more time to get in position for a good hook set than a trap provides.

My point i guess is that the sandbags will sometimes drag with a heavy trap and/or big baits in heavy currents, I use the graples in those situations. So, there is a place for both in my tackle tub.

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Excellent find, These types of weights are expesive yes so easy to make. I will make some of these up this week. Thanks for this post. In the past I have used cinder blocks or window weights and these work well but blocks are cumbersome and I don't always have window weights.